“We are all faced, throughout our lives, with agonizing decisions. Moral choices. Some are on a grand scale. Most of these choices are on lesser points. But, we define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are, in fact, the sum total of our choices. Events unfold so unpredictably, so unfairly; human happiness does not seem to have been included in the design of creation. It is only we, with our capacity to love, that give meaning to the indifferent universe. And yet, most human beings seem to have the ability to keep trying, and even to find joy from simple things like their family, their work, and from the hope that future generations might understand more.” -Professor Louis Levy
Where is happiness? It's very simple, happiness for me is writing snarky and arrogant comments on UA-cam to make myself feel superior. I succeed every day at this and battle and win any descent in response. As you can imagine the recursive nature of writing this on this particular video is indeed happiness incarnate.
@@happywednesday6741 I applaud your consistency as well as your backhanded acknowledgement of the correctness of my claim. You are likely my kind of wise ass. ; >)
Contentment is just a lower degree of happiness. If you can ever experience mind-blasting orgasmic pleasure, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do that all of the time.
It's so weird to hear this calm voice sounding so inoffensive after saying killing children isn't enough to stop voting democrat. Not even in regards to the abortion debate. Nobody who can calmly say that nonsense can be taken seriously in that regard again.
I find this suggestion that people should be more like the Dali Lama ridiculous. He is in a position preordained privilege the likes of which simply does not exist anywhere else in the world, that makes the chances of someone acting in a similar manner completely unrealistic. I read his book the art of happiness once and at best it's about as good as the vast majority of other self help books. It makes the fundamental mistake of describing happiness as something to acquire. Happiness is a total myth dreamt up by marketing execs to sell stuff.
As a subscriber, I heard Brooks talk about his catholic faith. Here's the thing: He essentially says that it's a great way to meditate (prayer) and it leads to his happiness. To Brooks' credit, he never even once declares that he is "positive" that his brand of christianity is true. In fact, he artfully dances around in a somewhat disingenuous way. More accurately, he describes his "devout" catholicism in a way that virtually no other catholic would describe it. It's a bit maddening that such an intelligent person as Brooks would give his time and energy to "daily mass" -- and yes, he goes to daily mass.
Elmo-no other catholic would describe it like that? There are many Catholics that see it that way (my mom for instance) but might not be able to put it as eloquently. Nothing wrong with choosing a certain religion to practice your spirituality through.
@øddist Oh great, not only are you using playground logic (i.e. that pointing out something hasn't happened is the same as that thing happening - good luck using that with grown-ups) but you get to throw a bit of homophobia in there as well. You sound like a real intellectual superstar.
@øddist "Yet here you are mentioning him. You people are such bottoms for him 🤣" ? its our problem he cant stop whining when we wish for him to talk about something of value? while he and people like him is responsible for the amount of suffering coming from the destruction of the country
Sam Harris makes no sense. Stop talking and/or rename the podcast. Humanity has had enough of Harris’ self intellect worshipping nonsense. Intellect worship is the path to only suffering and evil.
What does it mean to be happy? I think people confuse happiness with not being sad. Unregulated continuous positive emotion is not good for any person. Negative emotions are important to change our paths and to tell us that something should be improved. But if the discussion is that people are mostly sad because they have set their goals too high, just tell them to set them low. People often think they'll only be satisfied when they reach their main goal, but that isn't right, just reaching closer to that goal will be satisfactory enough that to work more will require more negative emotions to push you forward.
I personally agree with you, but I am not sure if the same mindset would work for most people. Some individuals really benefit from pushing themselves too hard at the expense of their immediate well being (ex: athletes, musicians, company owners, researchers, etc.) I am much happier overall having lower expectations, but I’ve observed a drop in ambition, motivation, and career success as a result.
Not being sad is a prerequisite of being happy. You seem to think that because historically stuff you needed to get out of trouble was accompanied by suffering means that suffering is inevitable. That that is incorrect is not just logically obvious but can be felt directly in meditation. If you are not suffering in this very moment, there is no reason why you should be suffering ever.
You say that comparing yourself to others, even those that are doing less well than you is wrong, yet I have heard you mention it before that we should be grateful that we do not have cancer or some other terminal illness....
Such a shallow view of the world. Happiness comes from being healthy, having a good social net, having financial stability, not some mystic thing. No wonder the happiest people on earth are the ones in the best environment. Also you get like 90% of your serotonin and 50% dopamine in your gut, and most people have a messed up gut from the toxins and crappy foods in the environment. Again, the happiest people have tons of omega 3s ( that affect gut function through lowering LPS ) and do sauna really often - that has been proven to be healthy and eliminate toxins. On the point of " being in your 20 and learning really quick " that's neuroplasticity that can be enhanced through bdnf, and that's a complex but doable thing, and the dentist in his example takes Fridays off because of accumulated mitochondrial damage. There's a lot more to write but i hate these cash grabs to make a quick buck through a book
@julian marx awww, you read 2 books and think you know stuff, so cute. Judging by your tone you don't seem like a person that wants a debate so i won't waste my time with you. This is how i make myself happy, stay away from people like you, bye
Happiness for me is finally realizing that nothing really matters. I spent so many years worrying about money, getting that perfect job, getting the promotions… what people thought of me, paying bills, what if my car breaks down… worrying about shit that hasn’t even happened! I finally realized at the age of 50 that, if I can’t be content now, when will I be? So I decided to be content. To stop chasing status and all that stupid bullshit. I’ve ran all out of fucks and I’ve never been happier.
That's completely fair. Nothing is objectively meaningful, because meaning is nothing more than an orienteering mechanism. Chasing things such as more money, ect ect, is internally meaningless if you carry the assumption that money has meaning in a vacuum. I have a Cousin, who spent his whole life accumulating 20 million dollars, he's the ceo of a big company. Now, he has no purpose, because his life's goal has been fulfilled. He set a concrete goal, and it left him empty, when there was no longer a need for it. I learned only recently that chasing money above all else is useless, both pragmatically and in terms of self actualization. We should strive to understand meaning as a mechanism, and give meaning to the processes of life, like struggling, loving ect
@@keirongillespie6913 says someone in the richest country on the earth and probably one who was not born into poverty in that rich country. In the meantime in Afghanistan, selling ones under 10 years old daughter to feed the rest of the family became a necessity. And some feels oh so wise because he is content (wonder about the environment you feeling content in... Do you have your own little Buddha statue and Zen rock garden?)
It's interesting that Brooks places so much emphasis on the career value of progress and getting better instead of other job values like helping people, purpose and feeling useful (although I've heard him in other interviews say creating value and service to others are the most important things) . While progress and achieving goals is no doubt important. Plenty of people like dentist, doctors, teachers, etc, find happiness in being of service and useful to others. I'm grateful that these two finally got together for a productive dialogue. Thank you!
This guest is a performer, not a philosopher: Invited (in the second half, not available here) to answer direct questions, he talks in circles; he has nothing to say. (He's a "teacher," no longer a musician following the composer's score, now reciting other people's thoughts, relying heavily on name-dropping, arguments from authority. Sam Harris is very patient with him, even when he claims you can't say what's not true if you don't know what is true.)
You will own nothing and be happy. In the beginning there was nothing. Happiness depends on which nothing you want to own. Lack of fortitude is based on shame and guilt which need an observer so, Shame and guilt in front of whom since Pinocchio have replaced the Eye of Providence? So what do we need? Better whales.🐳We all want happiness. The problem is we were framed into a sadism where we think it must be to the detriment of others. Not everyone needs billions, or perfect health, or a cloak of invincibility or whatever so, it's precisely through these differences and diversity that we can reach an acceptable form of equal happiness. When, no matter how much you try to come to a new resolution, you look it up and it's there already thought through; does it mean that we're in a matrix of limited intelligence and originality or, does it mean that for the here and now, we pretty much have everything we need? Will it be the panic of the first or the organising of the latter?
Happiness is in the pockets of rich parents, Sam. I know, because my girlfriend has to deal with her little brother. Ahh, but Sam is an only child. He was always the favorite, because there was only him.
People do not equate intelligence with moral superiority and in fact envy those with high intelligence as a skill that allows the person to obtain success! It is natural for a parent to say to a child you are so smart, as it would be for them to say the child has beautiful blue eyes!
@julian marx Thank you for thoughtful reply. People are complex, love can easily turn to hate! I can imagine many people jealous of a Paris Hilton type and happy to throw her overboard to save themselves on a sinking ship!
@@Carhill That it works on an honesty system is the reason I won't ask for a free pass. And the subscription is too expensive so I won't pay either. I suspect I'm not alone.
25:30 Regarding everyone thinking they should write a book: ‘Everyone has a book in them and that, in most cases, is where it should stay.’ -Chris Hitchens
Hitchens definitely thought this about The Bell Curve. It's unfortunate that Harris claimed Hitchens was wilfully misrepresentating the book, to the detriment of science, because of his political bias
"I'm talking about faith in different ways as a Christian than as a scientist. It's an abbreviation for living in a..." trance? Transcendental aim? This picture of a Sunday on the Island brought back memories; thank you.
Do whatever you think makes you happy, in most cases it won't because happiness comes within. Ultimately, t's an electrochemical state of your brain. Happiness or not happiness, everyone dies in the end and nothing matters. We are forever cursed with the knowledge of out own mortality.
intelligence talk is kind of taboo in society currupted/wrong thoughts -----> sadness/unhappiness/anger /sexual Dalai lama is loving and unattached at the same time, that's amazing thing to attain writer wins noble prized but later they usually/normally did in thier 20s-30s
I have use the definition of intelligence “as the ability to adapt to changing circumstances” as very useful to me, detachable from any social comparison
@@B___848 It isn't that a tree can't adapt, it's that it adapts very slowly. The rate of adaptation is what matters and so his comment is not pretentious and nonsensical, you are.
I hope you realize that "intelligence" can be made to represent synonym of wisdom, and socrates used to have discussions 2500 years back and had to remain satisfied with no proper definition of wisdom. Having any exact albiet definition for literal abstract things like intelligence is just same as trying to have exact definition for good music. People have aversion to accept loose or fuzzy definitions, which I guess has also been the impulse for totalitarian ideologies like religions, marxism etc.
Is there something to caring more for humanity when young sort of burning lower in later life? Not not caring but not being quite so driven to help or dedicate your faculties?
If you’re a moderate to heavy drinking Lee and worried about your waning “fluid intelligence”, try giving up alcohol. Get ready to think and feel 10x better in every way including fluid intelligence. I also think if you learn a skill through fluid intelligence, you then have the skill to build on. It’s tough to learn a new thing from scratch without fluid intelligence, but once we’ll learned, I think you would be all right, even with the waning fluid intelligence. Seems like a downer message here
Great conversation and rite when it starts fading to Sam's voice to subscribe I'm like dammm I need to subscribe already , got a list of conversations I want to hear to completion. Not the most tech person in the world, I would no how to find a pod catcher lol
Still no discussion on the downfall of Roe V. Wade, or the thinning line between church & state?! I feel like the world is falling apart, and you’re focused on “mindfully” ignoring all of the relevant issues.
I have a problem with the "fluid intelligence" and "crystalized intelligence" model. It doesn't really take into account innate divergent-thinking capacity. I should be repeating the benefits of my crystalized intelligence by now, though in fact I am experiencing leaps in my divergent thinking capacity, creativity. People write and ask how I am able to arrive at the findings on my UA-cam channel. They can't imagine how I do it. The videos look like magic to a lot of people.
Hey Sam do a study on self inflicted blindness There is plenty of scriptures that show those who war against God cannot understand who he is nor his teachings
Joy, pleasure, meaning and purpose are just as important or more. Happiness comes and goes. I think we mean fulfillment or contentment when we say happiness. Or is the Good Life happiness ?
Your thinking is severly stunted by superfluous vocabulary. At any moment your consciousness can be filled with suffering or pleasure. You want to increase the amount of moments filled with pleasure and make them more intense. There is no reason why happiness should "go". If you can feel orgasmic bliss for one microsecond, you can feel it always.
To say love is to will the good for the other... is that simply moving the goal post? Who decides what is good for the other? How might one differentiate that definition from various meanings of codependency? Excellent conversation.
You don't have to know, or be right about what you think, to act out of love. It isn't moving the goal post. When you simply INTEND the best for every being it brings a deep sense of peace. It's experiential, it doesn't make sense until you do it. If you want to know, practice Meta meditation and see. Codependency and love are not the same thing at all. One isn't codependent simply out of the desire for another's happiness. It's getting what you want via manipulation, if you see it closely and honestly. It is attachment which is NOT love.
Theres more do it Sam go to the next level you are merely calm and stress free or so it seems. There's more to mindfulness than the level you have reached. Alot more! I should have told you sooner! You are missing out!
Happiness is such a pathetic, short-sided and inefficient aim of a life when compared to the question: “How can I contribute maximally to the species?”
Dear lord, couldn't make it through this one. When someone claims metaphysical beliefs my dopamine plummets and my cortisol rises, draining my Happiness. Btw: Happiness is biochemical. Get your hormones and neurotransmitters in order and pleasant sensations shall arise in your consciousness.
From my perspective, your comment is anchored in complete materialism, which is incompatible with the striving for happiness. It isn't as simple as getting your neurology in order, because your internal paradigm has potential to influence the microstructure of your brain. Your perspective influences how you process information, and how you process information relates to the micro structure of your brain. Get your sense of purpose, and the metaphysical and spiritual dimension of happiness in order, and seratonin will follow. Your internal affairs influence your hormones.
@@jamesvansittert3474 I agree with much of your argument. I spent most of my life focused on modifying my internal paradigm with the hope it would alter my biochemistry/microstructure of my brain. When I flipped my focus to optimizing my biochemistry (primarily through manipulations of what I ingested) the thoughts that arose were fundamentally altered in a positive way. Ultimately, I suspect it is the marriage of biochemistry and the uploading of what I will call enhancing data that leads to Happiness. Entertaining metaphysical/spiritual fantasies is not enhancing data.
Happiness comes from the achievement of your own values. The more you sacrifice your values, whether to self doubt or to other’s, the less happy you will be.
@@gabrielgaidos7015 in many cases, sure, but if we agree that living is good, things like water, happiness, laughter, love, friendship, career, and shelter etc.. are all objectively good values. The objective would be achieving a life you enjoy, without sacrifice of values.
@@MrCmon113 That's exactly what you should hope for .The big dead is the end of an imaginairy self ,the dead of the body is the small dead .You have to figure out who wants to be happy .
Why is Nature so heavily centered around procreation? Does it have a worthwhile endgoal or a goal at all with this seemingly endless repetition of procreation and death?
I just started to listen to it. Until this point, it makes me happy :). Although identification as a happiness seeker is the same as all other things. Just like materialism can manifest as spiritual materialism too.
A truly intelligent and wise person is not narcissistic. A narcissist is one who fights for the "hierarchical position" and willing to push down those who are threatening or suck up to those who are above them. When you love knowledge and experiencing, discovering new fields of "treasures" more than the hierarchical place you find yourself on: I think you have an inherent wisdom and you love knowledge for knowledge shake and not for the shake of your position on a hierarchical ladder. It doesn't matter where you are on that "ladder". Wisdom is not a competition. If you think it is, you are not wise. Experiencing diverse things in your life opens you up to see: if you think you know everything, you just didn't look around. Thinking that you are high in one hierarchy and being a "special person for it", you just ignoring a sea of hierarchies and your horizon is very limited.
I am at the point in the conversation where I don't agree. At all. But it is not comment section explanation. It is based on bitter experiences that gives me the capacity to have a different understanding on it. Maybe identifying with and practicing in Buddhism just as problematic as being a French Horn Player.
I am so not a Buddhist. At all. Have seen the dark side of Buddhism, also I have seen the dark side of setting your goal on "happiness" too. For some reason, it looked more like repressed, numb misery because processing life, "feeling truth" were a sign of being unhappy and happiness was also an other hierarchical ladder where they wanted to be high on. Hypocrisy was very prevalent and the ignorance about it was deeper than the practice of the simplest Buddhist teaching. I find Jungian psychology much more complex and much more fitting for complex, diverse human beings. Not saints. I don't believe in saints. (I have to insert that I meant these contemporary ones. Believing in the experience of Jung and the validity of his teachings, I have been praying and lighting candle for Saint Michael Archangel.) Although, it is same with Jungian psychology too. It doesn't matter what ever you want to be stuck on, you can be stuck on. The problem is narcissism, because if you are a narcissist, you don't want to admit it. You will fight it, pretend, you will not learn and grow as a human being. Your view of that hierarchical ladder and your position is more important. Your assumed happiness is more important than to process the pain, embarrassment and the reality of it. Your religion, no matter what you practice, just a tool and becomes a weapon to shield yourself from your own behavior and image. ... and I saw and experienced this which has been awful. Not one "Buddhist" stepped up to the place where they took responsibility and not one honoured their own oaths. They act like they don't have karma. Their actions have no consequences.
Japanese have no notion of hypocrisy, at least not in the sense we in the West do. “For the Japanese, withholding one’s personal feelings in order to maintain the appearance of harmony within the group is seen as virtuous and noble,” Cooper wrote in an unpublished paper. “This attitude is part of the structuring of Japanese social relations-it has a place there. But when it is imported under the banner of enlightenment and overlaid on an American community, the results are cultish and bizarre.”
Except for the fact that he hasn't done a single podcast talking about politics and the state of the things, despite us being in serious trouble due to the policies of the guy Sam voted for and praised as the "adults being back in the room". When Trump was president, he was so scary and bad and "dangerous" that Sam had "conservative" David Frum on 5 times in a few months just to talk about how bad and "dangerous" the orange me is. Now it's complete silence, almost like avoiding the elephant in the room. To me, that says a lot, and in a way is still a product of TDS
“We are all faced, throughout our lives, with agonizing decisions. Moral choices. Some are on a grand scale. Most of these choices are on lesser points. But, we define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are, in fact, the sum total of our choices. Events unfold so unpredictably, so unfairly; human happiness does not seem to have been included in the design of creation. It is only we, with our capacity to love, that give meaning to the indifferent universe. And yet, most human beings seem to have the ability to keep trying, and even to find joy from simple things like their family, their work, and from the hope that future generations might understand more.”
-Professor Louis Levy
Free will is an illusion.
@@Bat_Boy
What would motivate you to decide otherwise?
@@jeffersonianideal - “We define ourselves by the choices we have made.” You quoted it.
@@Bat_Boy
You evaded the question. Could you have decided to do otherwise?
@@jeffersonianideal - “otherwise” what? Can you be more vague?
Where is happiness? It's very simple, happiness for me is writing snarky and arrogant comments on UA-cam to make myself feel superior. I succeed every day at this and battle and win any descent in response. As you can imagine the recursive nature of writing this on this particular video is indeed happiness incarnate.
Gotta proofread then... I think you mean "dissent". There's my friendly bit of helpful snark.
@@zerosometime5655 Fortunately I'm arrogant enough to completely disregard valid criticism
@@happywednesday6741 I applaud your consistency as well as your backhanded acknowledgement of the correctness of my claim. You are likely my kind of wise ass. ; >)
That was a solid back and forth, everyone leaves as friends.
Everybody's good at something
Human happiness is too often illusive. Seek contentment instead.
Contentment is just a lower degree of happiness. If you can ever experience mind-blasting orgasmic pleasure, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do that all of the time.
@@MrCmon113
I'll practice that.
It's so weird to hear this calm voice sounding so inoffensive after saying killing children isn't enough to stop voting democrat. Not even in regards to the abortion debate.
Nobody who can calmly say that nonsense can be taken seriously in that regard again.
I find this suggestion that people should be more like the Dali Lama ridiculous. He is in a position preordained privilege the likes of which simply does not exist anywhere else in the world, that makes the chances of someone acting in a similar manner completely unrealistic. I read his book the art of happiness once and at best it's about as good as the vast majority of other self help books. It makes the fundamental mistake of describing happiness as something to acquire. Happiness is a total myth dreamt up by marketing execs to sell stuff.
As a subscriber, I heard Brooks talk about his catholic faith. Here's the thing: He essentially says that it's a great way to meditate (prayer) and it leads to his happiness. To Brooks' credit, he never even once declares that he is "positive" that his brand of christianity is true. In fact, he artfully dances around in a somewhat disingenuous way. More accurately, he describes his "devout" catholicism in a way that virtually no other catholic would describe it. It's a bit maddening that such an intelligent person as Brooks would give his time and energy to "daily mass" -- and yes, he goes to daily mass.
TV cat brr
Elmo-no other catholic would describe it like that? There are many Catholics that see it that way (my mom for instance) but might not be able to put it as eloquently. Nothing wrong with choosing a certain religion to practice your spirituality through.
A minute and thirty seconds in and no mention of Trump so far. Thank god.
Do you think Sam's TDS is in remission?
@øddist Oh great, not only are you using playground logic (i.e. that pointing out something hasn't happened is the same as that thing happening - good luck using that with grown-ups) but you get to throw a bit of homophobia in there as well. You sound like a real intellectual superstar.
@øddist "Yet here you are mentioning him. You people are such bottoms for him 🤣"
?
its our problem he cant stop whining when we wish for him to talk about something of value?
while he and people like him is responsible for the amount of suffering coming from the destruction of the country
Thank Sam. ☮️
Wow. Making sense pod cast. Dude you made no sense. You don't care what's on Hunter's laptop.
15€ per month for this? Are you serious?
Sam Harris makes no sense. Stop talking and/or rename the podcast. Humanity has had enough of Harris’ self intellect worshipping nonsense. Intellect worship is the path to only suffering and evil.
I'm guessing this switch to crystalized intelligence has a stagnating effect when the average of a population gets older?
What does it mean to be happy? I think people confuse happiness with not being sad. Unregulated continuous positive emotion is not good for any person. Negative emotions are important to change our paths and to tell us that something should be improved. But if the discussion is that people are mostly sad because they have set their goals too high, just tell them to set them low. People often think they'll only be satisfied when they reach their main goal, but that isn't right, just reaching closer to that goal will be satisfactory enough that to work more will require more negative emotions to push you forward.
I personally agree with you, but I am not sure if the same mindset would work for most people. Some individuals really benefit from pushing themselves too hard at the expense of their immediate well being (ex: athletes, musicians, company owners, researchers, etc.)
I am much happier overall having lower expectations, but I’ve observed a drop in ambition, motivation, and career success as a result.
Not being sad is a prerequisite of being happy. You seem to think that because historically stuff you needed to get out of trouble was accompanied by suffering means that suffering is inevitable.
That that is incorrect is not just logically obvious but can be felt directly in meditation. If you are not suffering in this very moment, there is no reason why you should be suffering ever.
Ah. Seurat. What a great painter.
The thumbnails are always interesting...this one in particular because it's familiar to an aficionado of 3000-piece Ravensburger puzzles.
You say that comparing yourself to others, even those that are doing less well than you is wrong, yet I have heard you mention it before that we should be grateful that we do not have cancer or some other terminal illness....
@@michaeljames3944 What would Sam Harris say to the person who does have a terminal illness? I am grateful I am not you?
I love Sam and his podcats where he is the only speaker. I found this guest cumbersome.
Happiness comes from viewing hitch slap videos
Because of this comment I am going to rewatch a bunch of them now.
LOL. I don't know about esoteric wordplay that sam harris indulges in, but slap videos definitely bring happiness.
@@Marcus-ft3bj based
The Dalai lama isn't even vegetarian pfft
Such a shallow view of the world. Happiness comes from being healthy, having a good social net, having financial stability, not some mystic thing. No wonder the happiest people on earth are the ones in the best environment. Also you get like 90% of your serotonin and 50% dopamine in your gut, and most people have a messed up gut from the toxins and crappy foods in the environment. Again, the happiest people have tons of omega 3s ( that affect gut function through lowering LPS ) and do sauna really often - that has been proven to be healthy and eliminate toxins.
On the point of " being in your 20 and learning really quick " that's neuroplasticity that can be enhanced through bdnf, and that's a complex but doable thing, and the dentist in his example takes Fridays off because of accumulated mitochondrial damage.
There's a lot more to write but i hate these cash grabs to make a quick buck through a book
If what you say is true then most Americans would be happy and not on antidepressants.
@julian marx awww, you read 2 books and think you know stuff, so cute. Judging by your tone you don't seem like a person that wants a debate so i won't waste my time with you. This is how i make myself happy, stay away from people like you, bye
Happiness for me is finally realizing that nothing really matters. I spent so many years worrying about money, getting that perfect job, getting the promotions… what people thought of me, paying bills, what if my car breaks down… worrying about shit that hasn’t even happened! I finally realized at the age of 50 that, if I can’t be content now, when will I be? So I decided to be content. To stop chasing status and all that stupid bullshit. I’ve ran all out of fucks and I’ve never been happier.
Exactly! You can't ever BECOME happy. You can only choose to BE happy.
That's completely fair. Nothing is objectively meaningful, because meaning is nothing more than an orienteering mechanism. Chasing things such as more money, ect ect, is internally meaningless if you carry the assumption that money has meaning in a vacuum.
I have a Cousin, who spent his whole life accumulating 20 million dollars, he's the ceo of a big company. Now, he has no purpose, because his life's goal has been fulfilled. He set a concrete goal, and it left him empty, when there was no longer a need for it.
I learned only recently that chasing money above all else is useless, both pragmatically and in terms of self actualization. We should strive to understand meaning as a mechanism, and give meaning to the processes of life, like struggling, loving ect
@@keirongillespie6913 says someone in the richest country on the earth and probably one who was not born into poverty in that rich country.
In the meantime in Afghanistan, selling ones under 10 years old daughter to feed the rest of the family became a necessity.
And some feels oh so wise because he is content (wonder about the environment you feeling content in... Do you have your own little Buddha statue and Zen rock garden?)
As a working class minority I took your advice and all if a sudden racism and exploitation stopped affecting me. 👍🏼
@@taboowriter9229 did you move out to your car?
No children, eh?
Sam is a fool - trump 2024👍
I read that Sam Harris is leaving his wife for Bhad Bhabie. Any truth in that?
Ya, its true.
What or who is Bhad Bhabie ?
@@DonaldAMisc oh thats rite, i remember that episode of dr phil, and thank you very much for the reply, good luck and best wishes to you
It's interesting that Brooks places so much emphasis on the career value of progress and getting better instead of other job values like helping people, purpose and feeling useful (although I've heard him in other interviews say creating value and service to others are the most important things) . While progress and achieving goals is no doubt important. Plenty of people like dentist, doctors, teachers, etc, find happiness in being of service and useful to others.
I'm grateful that these two finally got together for a productive dialogue. Thank you!
The woo is strong in this guy.
This guest is a performer, not a philosopher: Invited (in the second half, not available here) to answer direct questions, he talks in circles; he has nothing to say. (He's a "teacher," no longer a musician following the composer's score, now reciting other people's thoughts, relying heavily on name-dropping, arguments from authority. Sam Harris is very patient with him, even when he claims you can't say what's not true if you don't know what is true.)
"whatever it takes to win" thank you sam
One of my favorite guests on Sam's podcast so far. Definitely worth checking out the rest of the episode!
Sam believes it's fine to rig elections to stop his political rivals. Stop supporting an actual fascist.
Do you get video if you join?
You will own nothing and be happy. In the beginning there was nothing. Happiness depends on which nothing you want to own. Lack of fortitude is based on shame and guilt which need an observer so, Shame and guilt in front of whom since Pinocchio have replaced the Eye of Providence? So what do we need? Better whales.🐳We all want happiness. The problem is we were framed into a sadism where we think it must be to the detriment of others. Not everyone needs billions, or perfect health, or a cloak of invincibility or whatever so, it's precisely through these differences and diversity that we can reach an acceptable form of equal happiness. When, no matter how much you try to come to a new resolution, you look it up and it's there already thought through; does it mean that we're in a matrix of limited intelligence and originality or, does it mean that for the here and now, we pretty much have everything we need? Will it be the panic of the first or the organising of the latter?
Is it me or did they just spend an hour stating that you learn stuff when you're young and you impart wisdom when you're older? Ummm
Yes
On occasion there's an episode so good that I'll actually pay to hear the remaining bits. No greater compliment from a dude as frugal as me
Happiness is in the pockets of rich parents, Sam. I know, because my girlfriend has to deal with her little brother.
Ahh, but Sam is an only child. He was always the favorite, because there was only him.
You think rich parents will automatically equate to happiness? I could not disagree more.
@@elmoblatch9787 How do you read my comment and decide to write that?
The world works in mysterious ways.
Sam doesn’t seem to think anymore, he just cares about his guys getting elected! “Well son of a bitch, they fired him “!
Harvard Business School + Goldman Sachs = Happy? Rich maybe. But not happy. Class or no class.
I is first person nominative, me is 1st person accusative and dative. Not sure what your guest was on about.
Sam, I am so thankful to see this. Thank you
People do not equate intelligence with moral superiority and in fact envy those with high intelligence as a skill that allows the person to obtain success! It is natural for a parent to say to a child you are so smart, as it would be for them to say the child has beautiful blue eyes!
@julian marx Thank you for thoughtful reply. People are complex, love can easily turn to hate! I can imagine many people jealous of a Paris Hilton type and happy to throw her overboard to save themselves on a sinking ship!
Would happily listen to ads to hear your whole podcast dude. Give people options
You can go to his website and subscribe for free if you are unable to pay. It works on an honesty system, and he is true to their word.
@@Carhill That it works on an honesty system is the reason I won't ask for a free pass. And the subscription is too expensive so I won't pay either. I suspect I'm not alone.
@@Carhill I tried applying for access without paying and never hear back. I'm bummed every time the podcast cuts off.
@@autumnstarrs Do try again: It's worth it.
25:30 Regarding everyone thinking they should write a book: ‘Everyone has a book in them and that, in most cases, is where it should stay.’ -Chris Hitchens
Hitchens definitely thought this about The Bell Curve. It's unfortunate that Harris claimed Hitchens was wilfully misrepresentating the book, to the detriment of science, because of his political bias
"I'm talking about faith in different ways as a Christian than as a scientist. It's an abbreviation for living in a..."
trance? Transcendental aim? This picture of a Sunday on the Island brought back memories; thank you.
I'd been a glutton for tough challenges. And I failed.
Do whatever you think makes you happy, in most cases it won't because happiness comes within. Ultimately, t's an electrochemical state of your brain. Happiness or not happiness, everyone dies in the end and nothing matters. We are forever cursed with the knowledge of out own mortality.
True, but it does not have to be a curse. If you practiced living in the moment, you would know that.
Sam does not even see the blatant hypocrisy and authoritarian tendencies he now portrays.
I gotta subscribe one of these days. Talks like this one are what i like to hear.
Trump will be brought up in this podcast. Guaranteed
So in the picture for this video - What the heck is that thing under the left tree??
Happiness is understanding that you are a form of eternal energy that constantly changes while remaining unchanged.
You aren't and you completely misunderstand what energy is and why would that make you happy.
I feel sad. This poor guy has no ethics but thinks he does.
I'm super distracted. Who's the old man in the plane?
14:43 Curious, so upon think from age 17 your maxilla and mandible changed? Do you think this affected your embouchure?
intelligence talk is kind of taboo in society
currupted/wrong thoughts -----> sadness/unhappiness/anger /sexual
Dalai lama is loving and unattached at the same time, that's amazing thing to attain
writer wins noble prized but later they usually/normally did in thier 20s-30s
I have use the definition of intelligence “as the ability to adapt to changing circumstances” as very useful to me, detachable from any social comparison
Trees adapt to changing circumstance, but we don’t consider plants to be intelligent.
@@B___848 good point! Thanks
@@B___848 It isn't that a tree can't adapt, it's that it adapts very slowly. The rate of adaptation is what matters and so his comment is not pretentious and nonsensical, you are.
@@Marcus-ft3bj I said they CAN adapt… so what even is your point?
I hope you realize that "intelligence" can be made to represent synonym of wisdom, and socrates used to have discussions 2500 years back and had to remain satisfied with no proper definition of wisdom. Having any exact albiet definition for literal abstract things like intelligence is just same as trying to have exact definition for good music.
People have aversion to accept loose or fuzzy definitions, which I guess has also been the impulse for totalitarian ideologies like religions, marxism etc.
Is there something to caring more for humanity when young sort of burning lower in later life? Not not caring but not being quite so driven to help or dedicate your faculties?
If you’re a moderate to heavy drinking Lee and worried about your waning “fluid intelligence”, try giving up alcohol. Get ready to think and feel 10x better in every way including fluid intelligence. I also think if you learn a skill through fluid intelligence, you then have the skill to build on. It’s tough to learn a new thing from scratch without fluid intelligence, but once we’ll learned, I think you would be all right, even with the waning fluid intelligence. Seems like a downer message here
Can anyone tell me do you get video if you join?
They only talking about people in the elit.
When you read a book about happiness by a catholic, you really have a lot of time.
The peak of the song "The Lost Chord" by Steve Vai is "I Indivisible I!"
Imagine losing a whole country
Do not argue with anyone in private, (you will not convince them) argue in public to convince others.
Your suffering from auto blindness
41:40 LOVE WITHOUT ATTACHMENT = WHAT FAIRYTALE WORLD IS THIS GUY LIVING IN #MORDOR
How are those 'adults being back in charge' going there Sam? are things so much better now?
Great conversation and rite when it starts fading to Sam's voice to subscribe I'm like dammm I need to subscribe already , got a list of conversations I want to hear to completion. Not the most tech person in the world, I would no how to find a pod catcher lol
Pocket Casts! Also sad there's a fake Sam bot.
Do you get video when you join?
Excelente Sam Harris
Harris' IQ? I'd guess at least three standard deviations above the mean.
Brought down to one after he got exposed to the Trump phenomenon.
.. Herman Melville said that our lives can be either a telling pantomime of action, or else a tame chapter of sounds.
Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O Lord.
Still no discussion on the downfall of Roe V. Wade, or the thinning line between church & state?!
I feel like the world is falling apart, and you’re focused on “mindfully” ignoring all of the relevant issues.
Except, of course, the existential threat of Trump.
I'd like a podcast about favoritism and duper's delight...
I have a problem with the "fluid intelligence" and "crystalized intelligence" model. It doesn't really take into account innate divergent-thinking capacity. I should be repeating the benefits of my crystalized intelligence by now, though in fact I am experiencing leaps in my divergent thinking capacity, creativity. People write and ask how I am able to arrive at the findings on my UA-cam channel. They can't imagine how I do it. The videos look like magic to a lot of people.
Sam are you still helping those who can’t afford the “Waking Up” app?
C. Nees-he will never read this. Just shoot an email and you’l get it.
Hey Sam do a study on self inflicted blindness
There is plenty of scriptures that show those who war against God cannot understand who he is nor his teachings
Why don’t you really know what you want? Two reasons. Number one: you Already have it. Number two: you don’t know yourself because you never can.
Allan watts said that.what do you desire 😁how would you really enjoy spending your life.??
What is Sam Harris?
Consciousness.....
....probably.
Ex-actor, formerly known as Ben Stiller
Joy, pleasure, meaning and purpose are just as important or more. Happiness comes and goes. I think we mean fulfillment or contentment when we say happiness. Or is the Good Life happiness ?
Your thinking is severly stunted by superfluous vocabulary.
At any moment your consciousness can be filled with suffering or pleasure. You want to increase the amount of moments filled with pleasure and make them more intense.
There is no reason why happiness should "go". If you can feel orgasmic bliss for one microsecond, you can feel it always.
To say love is to will the good for the other... is that simply moving the goal post? Who decides what is good for the other? How might one differentiate that definition from various meanings of codependency? Excellent conversation.
The definition of codependence is to control another person as a means of preserving your own self worth.
You don't have to know, or be right about what you think, to act out of love. It isn't moving the goal post. When you simply INTEND the best for every being it brings a deep sense of peace. It's experiential, it doesn't make sense until you do it. If you want to know, practice Meta meditation and see.
Codependency and love are not the same thing at all. One isn't codependent simply out of the desire for another's happiness. It's getting what you want via manipulation, if you see it closely and honestly. It is attachment which is NOT love.
No, because love is often used in other ways such as romantic love.
@@MrCmon113I agree. nobody is disputing that.
Once apon a time there was a book.
The End.
Theres more do it Sam go to the next level you are merely calm and stress free or so it seems. There's more to mindfulness than the level you have reached. Alot more! I should have told you sooner! You are missing out!
Q: Where is happiness?
A: Here: ua-cam.com/video/gXAlELbvRjg/v-deo.html
Happiness is such a pathetic, short-sided and inefficient aim of a life when compared to the question: “How can I contribute maximally to the species?”
Procreate. Destroy the planet. 👍
That's the most hilariously stupid comment I have ever read.
Even before one recognizes that "contributing to the species" is completely meaningless.
Dear lord, couldn't make it through this one. When someone claims metaphysical beliefs my dopamine plummets and my cortisol rises, draining my Happiness.
Btw: Happiness is biochemical. Get your hormones and neurotransmitters in order and pleasant sensations shall arise in your consciousness.
From my perspective, your comment is anchored in complete materialism, which is incompatible with the striving for happiness. It isn't as simple as getting your neurology in order, because your internal paradigm has potential to influence the microstructure of your brain. Your perspective influences how you process information, and how you process information relates to the micro structure of your brain.
Get your sense of purpose, and the metaphysical and spiritual dimension of happiness in order, and seratonin will follow. Your internal affairs influence your hormones.
@@jamesvansittert3474 I agree with much of your argument. I spent most of my life focused on modifying my internal paradigm with the hope it would alter my biochemistry/microstructure of my brain. When I flipped my focus to optimizing my biochemistry (primarily through manipulations of what I ingested) the thoughts that arose were fundamentally altered in a positive way. Ultimately, I suspect it is the marriage of biochemistry and the uploading of what I will call enhancing data that leads to Happiness.
Entertaining metaphysical/spiritual fantasies is not enhancing data.
Would you fix a lagging browser with a soldering iron?
Before we can make hedonium, we need more indirect ways to create happiness.
Happiness has gone to Utopia.
Forever.
Being a French horn player and getting into orchestra is extremely tough. Very interested in this guy as a result.
Yeah as a horn player in music conservatory who isn’t sure if I wanna stick with it for a career, this was so interesting to hear
@@liammcconlogue7266 I feel ya. Not sure where you go obviously but it's tough everywhere. Follow the heart man.
Does Brooks teach at Harvard?
Love this episode!
+
Happiness comes from the achievement of your own values. The more you sacrifice your values, whether to self doubt or to other’s, the less happy you will be.
Meh, if you say so.
@@ChillAssTurtle it’s not about what I say, I could be wrong.. you can test my hypothesis though
Very skeptical about this
But how do you know what your values are? Wut even are values? Do you mean goals?
@@gabrielgaidos7015 in many cases, sure, but if we agree that living is good, things like water, happiness, laughter, love, friendship, career, and shelter etc.. are all objectively good values.
The objective would be achieving a life you enjoy, without sacrifice of values.
Meaning is more important than happiness.
great
When you're not looking for happines you will never be unhappy .Quote by UG and i totaly agree .
Didn't UG rip of Krishnamurti?
@@mismos00 I think it's the other way around but that has nothing to do with it ,his quote is right .
Let’s remove the double negative: “When you are looking for happiness, you will be unhappy”.
Yeah, bcs if you're not looking for happiness, you are dead.
@@MrCmon113 That's exactly what you should hope for .The big dead is the end of an imaginairy self ,the dead of the body is the small dead .You have to figure out who wants to be happy .
The observer is the observed!
Sir Sam thank you.
🦋💎🦋
Why is Nature so heavily centered around procreation? Does it have a worthwhile endgoal or a goal at all with this seemingly endless repetition of procreation and death?
How does sth come to still be around?
@@MrCmon113 but why does it want to be around?
I just started to listen to it. Until this point, it makes me happy :).
Although identification as a happiness seeker is the same as all other things. Just like materialism can manifest as spiritual materialism too.
A truly intelligent and wise person is not narcissistic. A narcissist is one who fights for the "hierarchical position" and willing to push down those who are threatening or suck up to those who are above them. When you love knowledge and experiencing, discovering new fields of "treasures" more than the hierarchical place you find yourself on:
I think you have an inherent wisdom and you love knowledge for knowledge shake and not for the shake of your position on a hierarchical ladder. It doesn't matter where you are on that "ladder".
Wisdom is not a competition.
If you think it is, you are not wise. Experiencing diverse things in your life opens you up to see: if you think you know everything, you just didn't look around. Thinking that you are high in one hierarchy and being a "special person for it", you just ignoring a sea of hierarchies and your horizon is very limited.
I am at the point in the conversation where I don't agree. At all. But it is not comment section explanation. It is based on bitter experiences that gives me the capacity to have a different understanding on it.
Maybe identifying with and practicing in Buddhism just as problematic as being a French Horn Player.
I am so not a Buddhist.
At all. Have seen the dark side of Buddhism, also I have seen the dark side of setting your goal on "happiness" too. For some reason, it looked more like repressed, numb misery because processing life, "feeling truth" were a sign of being unhappy and happiness was also an other hierarchical ladder where they wanted to be high on. Hypocrisy was very prevalent and the ignorance about it was deeper than the practice of the simplest Buddhist teaching.
I find Jungian psychology much more complex and much more fitting for complex, diverse human beings. Not saints. I don't believe in saints. (I have to insert that I meant these contemporary ones. Believing in the experience of Jung and the validity of his teachings, I have been praying and lighting candle for Saint Michael Archangel.)
Although, it is same with Jungian psychology too. It doesn't matter what ever you want to be stuck on, you can be stuck on. The problem is narcissism, because if you are a narcissist, you don't want to admit it. You will fight it, pretend, you will not learn and grow as a human being. Your view of that hierarchical ladder and your position is more important. Your assumed happiness is more important than to process the pain, embarrassment and the reality of it. Your religion, no matter what you practice, just a tool and becomes a weapon to shield yourself from your own behavior and image.
... and I saw and experienced this which has been awful. Not one "Buddhist" stepped up to the place where they took responsibility and not one honoured their own oaths. They act like they don't have karma. Their actions have no consequences.
I assume in Myanmar, Buddhists spend enough time as it requires to be committed to their religion.
Japanese have no notion of hypocrisy, at least not in the sense we in the West do. “For the Japanese, withholding one’s personal feelings in order to maintain the appearance of harmony within the group is seen as virtuous and noble,” Cooper wrote in an unpublished paper. “This attitude is part of the structuring of Japanese social relations-it has a place there. But when it is imported under the banner of enlightenment and overlaid on an American community, the results are cultish and bizarre.”
Sticking to your own values is happiness I guess..
Sam is no longer relevant. He no longer commands respect.
A relationship with Christ is the way to true happiness.
Preaching to the wrong audience there big man
@Kas Dbm "that's gross, that's racist..."
@Kas Dbm Not in the long term.
@@jazsi_ It is the right audience. They just don't know it.
Finally, some non-TDS content from Sam Harris
Except for the fact that he hasn't done a single podcast talking about politics and the state of the things, despite us being in serious trouble due to the policies of the guy Sam voted for and praised as the "adults being back in the room". When Trump was president, he was so scary and bad and "dangerous" that Sam had "conservative" David Frum on 5 times in a few months just to talk about how bad and "dangerous" the orange me is. Now it's complete silence, almost like avoiding the elephant in the room. To me, that says a lot, and in a way is still a product of TDS
@@synthesizerneil spot on analysis